ama style (grammar) section 2 chapter 7

Dr. M. Moradi Kowsar Corp.

AMA STYLE (Grammar)

SECTION 2

CHAPTER 7

AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION STYLE OF WRITING

KOWSAR CORP10:00- 11:30


IN GOD WE TRUST


GRAMMAR

• The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter—it's the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning. Mark Twain


Modifiers

• Although in English nouns can be used as modifiers, overuse of noun modifiers can lead to a lack of clarity. Purists may demand stricter rules on usage, but, as with the use of nouns as verbs (see 11.3, Correct and Preferred Usage, Back-formations), the process of linguistic change is inevitable, and grammatical rigor must be tempered by judgment and common sense.

http://www.amamanualofstyle.com/oso/private/content/jama/9780195176339/p103.html


• In The Careful Writer, Bernstein2 advises the use of no more than 2 polysyllabic noun modifiers per noun for the sake of clarity.



Avoid Preferred

diabetes patient patient with diabetes, diabetic patient

depression episode depressive episode, episode of depression

elderly over-the-counter drug users elderly users of over-the-counter drugs


Modifying Gerunds.

• When a noun or pronoun precedes a gerund (a verb form ending in -ing that is used as a noun), the noun or pronoun is possessive.


Not;

• The toxicity of the drug was not a factor in the patients dying so suddenly.

• The award recognized the researchers planning as well as his performance.


Preferred

• The toxicity of the drug was not a factor in the patient's dying so suddenly.

• The award recognized the researcher's planning as well as his performance.


Subject-Complement Agreement

• Subjects and complements should agree in number.


examples

• The child can take off his own shoes. • We asked trial participants to return their pill

dispensers. However, when the complement is shared by all constituents of the plural subject, it remains singular. • The authors were asked to revise their paper. • All study sites obtained approval from their institutional

review board. • Investigators inserted a catheter into the study

participants' pulmonary artery.


Pronouns.

• Pronouns replace nouns. In this replacement, the antecedent must be clear and the pronoun must agree with the antecedent in number and gender.


Ex

• The authors unravel the process of gathering information about diethylstilbestrol and disseminating it.

• The authors unravel the process of gathering and disseminating information about diethylstilbestrol.


Ex

• A questionnaire was given to each medical student and their spouses.

• Disagreement of pronoun with referent in number; the referent is each medical student (singular), but the pronoun used is plural (their spouses)


preferred

• A questionnaire was given to the medical students and their spouses

• or• A questionnaire was given to each medical

student and his or her spouse.


Personal Pronouns

• Care must be taken to use the correct case of personal pronouns: subjective (the pronoun is the subject of the phrase or clause) or objective (the pronoun is the object of the phrase or clause).

• She was assigned to the active intervention group. (She is the subject.)

• Collect all the samples and give them to her. (Her is the object.)

• Your decision affects him and me. (Both him and me are objects.)


Ex

• George, Patricia, and myself attended the lecture.

• George, Patricia, and I attended the lecture.• The author replied to the editor, illustrator,

and myself.• The author replied to the editor, illustrator,

and me.


Relative Pronouns.

• Who vs Whom• Who is used as a subject and whom as an

object. The examples below illustrate correct usage.


• Give the award to whomever you prefer. [Objective case: whomever is the object of the verb prefer.]

• Give the award to whoever will benefit most. [Subjective case: whoever is the subject of will benefit.]

• Whom did you consult? [Objective case: whom is the object of consult.]

• Who was the consultant on this case? [Subjective case: who is the subject of the sentence.]

• He is one of the patients whom Dr Rundle is treating. [Objective case: whom is the object of is treating.]

• He is one of the patients who are receiving the placebo. [Subjective case: who is the subject of are receiving.]


That vs Which.

• Relative pronouns may be used in subordinate clauses to refer to previous nouns. The word that introduces a restrictive clause, one that is essential to the meaning of the noun it describes. The word which introduces a nonrestrictive clause, one that adds more information but is not essential to the meaning. Clauses that begin with which are preceded by commas.


• A study on the impact of depression on US labor costs was published in the 2003 JAMA theme issue on depression, which contains articles on a range of similar topics. [Nonrestrictive; there was only one theme issue on depression in 2003.]

• The issue of JAMA that contained the article on the impact of depression on US labor costs was the 2003 depression theme issue. [Restrictive; there are thousands of issues of JAMA.]


Not;

• The high prevalence of antibodies to the 3 Bartonella species, which were examined in the present study, indicates that health care workers should be alert to possible infection with any of these organisms when treating intravenous drug users


preferred

• There are more than 3 species of Bartonella. Hence, the correct form here would be “...the 3 Bartonella species that were examined.


Pronoun-Verb Agreement.

• Some indefinite pronouns (eg, each, either, neither, one, no one, everyone, someone, anybody, nobody, somebody) always take singular verbs


• some (eg, several, few, both, many) always take the plural


• and some (eg, some, any, none, all, and most) may take either the singular or the plural, depending on the referents. In the last case, usually the best choice is to use the singular verb when the pronoun refers to a singular word and the plural verb when the pronoun refers to a plural word, even when the noun is omitted.


• Singular referent:• Some of her improvement is due to the increase in dosage.• Plural referent:• Some of his calculations are difficult to follow.• Singular referent:• Most of the manuscript was typed with a justified right-hand margin.• Plural referent:• Most of the manuscripts are edited electronically.• Singular referent:• Some of the manuscripts had merit, but none was of the caliber of last year's

award winner.• Plural referent:• None of the demographic variables examined were found to be significant risk

factors.


Verbs

• In the active voice, the subject does the acting; in the passive voice, the subject is acted on. In general, authors should use the active voice, except in instances in which the actor is unknown or the interest focuses on what is acted on (as in the following example of passive voice).

• He was shot in the abdomen and within 10 minutes was brought to the emergency department.

• If the actor is mentioned in the sentence, the active voice is preferred over the passive voice.


Ex• Passive:• Data were collected from 5000 patients by physicians.• Active (better):• Physicians collected data from 5000 patients.• Passive:• The definition of bullying used in the survey was taken

from previous studies.• Active (better):• The authors used previous definitions of bullying in the

survey.


TenseNot;

• I found it difficult to accept Dr Smith's contention in chapter 3 that the new agonist has superior pharmacokinetics and was therefore more widely used.



preferred

• I found it difficult to accept Dr Smith's contention in chapter 3 that the new agonist has superior pharmacokinetics and is therefore more widely used.



Double Negatives

• A double negative is best avoided in scientific writing because it often causes the reader to go back and reread the sentence to make sure of the meaning.


• Rheumatologic symptoms were not uncommon in both groups

• Our results are not inconsistent with the prior hypothesis.

• The authors cannot barely contain their enthusiasm


Contractions

• A contraction consists of 2 words combined by omitting 1 or more letters (eg, can't, aren't). An apostrophe shows where the omission has occurred. Contractions are usually avoided in formal writing.


Thanks for you attention

ama style (grammar) section 2 chapter 7

Documents

moradikowsar corp

polysyllabic noun modifiers

overuse of noun modifiers

disagreement of pronoun

medical student singular

medical students

use of nouns

plural subject